Box making machine



Jan. 13y 1942. c MQELLER 2,269,545

BOX MAKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 12, 1940 INVENTOR a. 3% h-flm ATTORN EY Patented Jan. 13, 1942 BOX MAKING MACHINE Carl A. Moeller, Randolph, Mass, assignor to Norfolk Paper 60., Inc., Randolph, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 12, 1940, Serial No. 318,482

4 Claims. (CI. 93-47) This invention relates to a box making machine.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel and improved construction of web guiding and blank forming apparatus for embodiment in box making machines adapted, among other uses, for the manufacture of paper boxes or covers of the type forming the subject matter of the United States Patent to M. B. Clafi No. 1,579,646, issued April 6, 1926, and seeks to eliminate certain difficulties formerly encountered in prior box making machines to the end that the machine may operate more efficiently.

With this general object in view and such of a portion of a box making machine embodying the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the machine illustrated in Fig. l.

In the machine illustrated in the United States Patent to Clafi and'Joplin No. 1,721,431, for A making paper boxes of the construction shown in the Clafi Patent No. 1,579,646, provision is made for forming the separate blanks from which the box is constructed from supply rolls of cardboard or other fibrous box forming material.

The web of cardboard from which the body blank is formed is drawn from a supply roll by a pair of constantly driven feed rolls and after being combined with finishing paper to cover the sides and edges of the web, the paper covered cardboard strip is drawn by intermittently driven feed rolls through guides and past creasing rolls which crease the strip at the places where the folds between the sides and bottom of the box are to occur. After passing through the intermittently driven feed rolls the cardboard body blank strip is fed through guides to the top of a fixed lower die member cooperating with an upper reciprocating die member by which the web is severed, punched and creased transversely to form the individual blanks which are to become the bottom of the finished box. The punched and creased blank thus formed is then transferred to mechanism for assembling it with separate end blanks and provision is made for positioning the separate blanks between a plunger member and a pocket member, by which, in the operation of the machine, they are assembled in box forming relation. The pocket member preferalbly comprises one of a series of similar members mounted upon a rotatable spider, and provision is made for completing the formation of the box while the spider is rotated to successive stations and finally the completed box is ejected from the machine.

Inasmuch as the different features of the present invention have particularly to do with the web feeding and blank forming apparatus, it is believed unnecessary to include further description of the Clafi and Joplin Patent box making machine, reference being made to said Patent No. 1,721,431.

In the aforesaid Claff and Joplin Patent, as illustrated in Fig. 7, the guides 120 therein disclosed comprise upper and lower fixed guide plates extending along the edges of the web, in a manner similar to guides 87, from the feed rolls 83, 85 to the dies 122, 124. This construction of the guide plates has several disadvantages. In the first place, when it was necessary to set the machine up to run a different size of box, the dies 122, 124 were 'replaced with a different set and in so doing, the relationship between the dies and the guide plates was changed resulting in a greater or a lesser distance between the guide plates and the dies. Also, when it was attempted to make the upper plates adjustable with respect to the lower plates in order to bridge the gap between the guide plates and the dies, it was found that in the course of time, the adjusting screws would become loosened and the front edge of the plate would work in between the dies whereby the cutting edges of the dies were ruined and had to be replaced or resharpened. In addition, if the plates were not set close enough to the dies during the punching and severing operation, that portion of the web adjacent to the guide plates 120 would stick to the upper die member and be lifted up therewith. As a result, when the feed rolls 83, 85 operated to advance the web during the next cycle of operation, the cardboard would become jammed between the plates 120 and cause a tie up in the production.

The present invention aims to provide a construction of web guiding mechanism which is adapted to hold the web down during the punching and severing operation, eliminate adjustment when, changing the set-up of the machine from one size box to another and prevent jamming of between an upper die 24 and a lower die 26 by which, during the operation of the machine, the web is formed into a box blank 28. The lower die member 26 is removably fixed to the platen 30 of the machine by bolts 32 and the upper die member 24 is removably mounted upon a slide member 21 arranged to be reciprocated vertically on posts 34.

The die members 24, 26 are arranged to sever the individual blanks from the web as'indicated at 36 to form transverse creases and to cut out triangular shaped notches 40 for forming the end flanges of the sides and bottom of the blank. The upper die member is provided with triangular shaped cutter members 42 which cooperate with similarly shaped recesses in the lower die member 26.

In accordance with the present invention, provision is made for guiding the web from the feed rolls 20, 22 to the dies and for preventing the web from being raised up with upper die member 24 during the operation of the machine. As

herein shown, the web is supported upon a bridgeplate 44 fixed to a bracket 46 mounted on the machine frame. The web is fed under a rod 50 which is extended across the web and is supported between brackets 52, 54 attached to either side of the lower die 26 by screws 56. In practice, the rod 50 is positioned as close as possible to the cutters 42 so that in the operation of the machine, the rod will be most effective in holding the web down when the dies are separated. The brackets 52, 54 being fixed to the lower die 26, the guide rod 50 thus becomes a unit with the latter so that no adjustment is required. When more than one set of dies is provided in order to run a different size of box on the machine, each lower die is provided with a similar guide rod 50 permanently adjusted and fixed thereto.

A further advantage of the construction of the web guiding means of the present invention resides in the ability of that portion of the web disposed between the feed rolls 20, 22, and the rod 50 to bend upwardly in a loop if for any reason a jam occurs in the dies, thus attracting the attention of the operator to correct the machine and avoid further trouble.

From the above description it will be seen that the construction of the web guiding and blank forming apparatus of the present invention is such as to eliminate difficulties formerly encountered in box making machines thus enabling the machine to operate more efficiently.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described in connection with the apparatus particularly designed for use in the Clair and Joplin box making machine, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied in other forms and constructions within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a box making machine, in combination, two relatively movable dies for the production of box blanks, means for feeding a web of material to said dies including a pair of intermittently operated feed rolls disposed in advance of said dies and stationary means for retaining the web adjacent the receiving end of the dies in its normal plane when said dies are separated, said stationary means comprising a transversely disposed member extending across the entire width of the web.

2. In a box making machine of the character described, in combination, a pair of dies for the production of box blanks comprising a stationary lower die and a reciprocatory upper die, said upper die being provided with spring pressed pins to assist in releasing the blank from the die during separation of the dies, means disposed in advance of said dies for feeding a web between said dies and a transversely disposed member carried by said lower die extending across the entire width of the web for retaining the web adjacent the receiving end of the dies in its normal plane when said dies are separated, said transverse member being arranged to supplement; the action of said pins at the forward end of the die.

3. In a box making machine, in combination, a pair of cooperating blank forming dies, one of which is movable and provided with means for I releasing a blank from the die during separation of the dies, web feeding means including a pair of intermittently operated feed rolls disposed in advance of said dies, and a retaining member adjacent the forward edge of the dies extending across the entire width of the web for retaining the web adjacent said forward edge of the die in its normal plane when the dies are separated, said transverse member being arranged to supplement the action of said releasing means at the forward end of the die.

4. In a box making machine, in combination, a pair of cooperating blank forming dies, one of which is movable and provided with means for releasing a blank from the die during separation of the dies, web feeding means including a pair of intermittently operated feed rolls disposed in advance of said dies, and a retaining member arranged to supplementsaid releasing means carried by the stationary die and disposed adjacent the forward edge thereof for retaining the web adjacent the forward edge of the die in its normal plane when the dies are separated, said retaining member comprising a rod extending across the entire Width of said web.

CARL A. MOELLER. 

